Nail decorating method and device



March 11, 1941. F. M. SMALDONE NAIL DECORATING METHOD AND DEVICE Filed July 25, 1938 h is 6760104209.

Patented Mar. 11, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 7 Claims.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method of masking to facilitate the easier application of coloring matter on the fingernails or toe nails.

A further object is to provide such a masking device which can be easily positioned on the nail to act as a stencil or guide for painting fanciful or geometrical designs on the nails.

Another object is to provide such a device with an adhesive coating so that it will remain in the desired position by simply pressing the same against the surface of the nail and which may be removed from the nail or its position may be changed by simply peeling it from the nail and when removed will leave no noticeable adhesive residue.

Another object is to provide such a device with an adhesive coating requiring no wetting or other preparation for application on the nail.

Another object is to provide such a. device which may be left on the nail over a long period of time as an ornament for beautifying the nails.

Another object is to provide the stencils on a holder for convenience in using and preserving the same.

These and other objects will appear throughout the specification and will be specifically pointed out in the appended claims.

The trend in modern beauty culture has been to paint the human finger nails and toe nails so as to enhance their color or to hide the many white spots which give the nails such a shabby appearance. In painting the nails professional beauticians as well as those persons painting their own nails, endeavor to leave a small portion at the rear of the nail adjacent the skin unpainted and in a curved form resembling a quarter-moon, and do likewise at the forward tip of the nail.

This operation consumes time and patience due to the fact that the coloring fluid is applied with a small bristle brush and with the free hand. Considerable skill and steady nerves are required to attain a satisfactorily beautiful curve. The attempt is so often a failure that the entire nail must of necessity be painted over to cover up the ragged line attained, much to the dissatisfaction of the subject.

The present invention aims to provide a painting guide preferably in the form of a stencil which is cut with the desired curved edges applicable to the various fingers or toes. The stencil may be out also with various figured designs such for example as miniature sail boats, anchors, animals or any astronomical, fanciful, or geometrical design which may strike the human fancy. The stencils may be transparent or colored and may themselves be left on the nail to serve as an ornament. Manikin nails as well as human nails may be similarly treated, and in referring to human nails, manikin nails as well as human are encompassed.

In the drawing wherein like numerals denote like parts, Fig. l is a top plan view of a stencil for painting the nails so as to leave a quartermoon design on the nails unpainted.

Fig. 2 is a frontal View of the tip of a finger with the stencil in place on the finger nail showing the corners of the stencil projecting at the sides of the nail.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of a stencil having a cut-out portion for painting a star on the nail.

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of a sail boat design to be adhesively secured to the nail and left there as an ornament, or around which the nail may be painted to leave the said boat design in silhouette.

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of a backing card on which several stencils are adhesively secured, the dotted lines representing score lines in the card along which the card may be folded.

Fig. 6 is a sectional end view of the backing material and the stencils thereon shown in Fig. 5, showing the backing card folded along the score lines.

Fig. l is an end view of a ring type stencil secured to the nail by coiling about the finger in ring fashion.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the hand showi ing stencils adhered to the fingers and thumb of the hand.

The invention consists preferably of a sheet of paper I coated on one side with a layer of adhesive H which is pressure sensitive, that is, the adhesive is tacky and will cause the paper to adhere to the nail by simply pressing down on the paper In against the nail l2. Any well known adhesive tape, whether of the paper or cloth type may be used, with the observation that the paper tape will serve better if the crepe in the paper is shallow or if the cloth tape is woven line.

In order to accentuate the natural coloring of the nails, by leaving unpainted the quartermoon light spot l3 on the rear portion of the nail, a crescent shaped stencil I4 is provided, made of the sheet of material I ll coated on one side with the adhesive layer II; this stencil is preferably cut crescent shaped with curves of different radii so that the front curve I may serve as the guide for leaving unpainted the quarter moon spot on the rear of the nail l3, and the rear curve It is used as a guide for leaving unpainted the tip of the nail ll. When the crescent stencil I4 is pressed on the nail, the corners 18 are preferably made to protrude beyond the nail so as to act as tabs for ease in removing the stencil from the nail. When the stencil I4 is in place, covering the light spot at the rear of the nail, nail polish or nail paint, as the liquid is variously termed, is applied with a brush and no particular care is required in painting about the stencil ll. Depending on the choice of the subject, one stencil may be covering the light spot and another covering the tip of the nail simultaneously, or the masking may be done successively. Inasmuch as most nail polish is made of a volatile fluid, the solvent quickly vapoiizes, leaving a. light dry film of coloring matter on the nail, which is quite brittle when dry. It has been found that this fllm will not peel off with the stencil if the stencil is removed while the nail polish fluid is drying.

Larger or smaller quarter moons" will result in accordance with the position of the stencil M on the nail l2. For instance, the same size stencil may be used on all nails and will cover a larger area if the curve I5 is advanced forwardly of the nail than if set in a more retracted position.

Various shapes and designs of stencils may be used to paint any figure on the nails which may suit the human fancy. The stencil may be perforated with a figure such as a star as in Fig. 3, in which case paint is applied within the perforation and when the stencil is removed a painted star will contrast with the background color of the nail. The process may be reversed by applying a stencil shaped like a star and paint applied about the contour of the stencil. In still another application of the invention the stencil sheet l0 may be colored decoratively and the stencil be left on the nail as an ornament, in which case the adhesive II will be a sulficiently strong binder.

Various colors and designs may be applied to the same nail by using a number of stencils.

Pressure sensitive adhesive tape leaves no adhesive residue when the tape is properly peeled off the nail surface at a sharp angle, and should, for best results be peeled by a quick peeling motion, and because of this property no washing or other finishing action is needed to complete the painting operation.

Due to the tackiness of the adhesive tape special provision is made to retain the cut stencils ready for use. To this end a backing element It! as shown in Fig. 5 may be provided, on which are secured the adhesive stencils,the adhesive layer ll acting as the binding agent. Score lines 20 may be provided on the backing element so that when the stencils are to be used the backing element is bent along the score line thus freeing the tab portions H! which project slightly beyond the score line. The projecting ear [8 of the stencil is then gripped with the fingers and by a quick peeling action the stencil is removed and applied on the nail. After use the stencil may be replaced on the backing element by pressing the stencil on the backing element to cause the adhesive to bind, where the stencil may be stored for future use.

It will be obvious that variations in the details of the method of use and construction of the stencil described may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as claimed.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. As an article of manufacture a sheet of relatively stifl backing material and a plurality of stencil-like sheets of relatively thin pliable material removably attached to said backing material, said sheets of pliable material each being coated on one side with a coating of pressure adhering adhesive whereby said sheets may be removably adhered to the backing material and adhesively applied to human nails to act as stencils in painting designs on the nails and be removable from said nails after the design is painted.

2. As an article of manufacture, a sheet of relatively stifl', pliable, backing material and a plurality of stencil sheets of relatively thin pliable material removably attached to said backing material, said backing material being scored to provide a fold line beneath the stencil sheets; said stencil sheets being coated on the under side with a coating of pressure adhering adhesive whereby said sheets may be removably adhered to the backing material and adhesively attached to human nails to act as stencils in painting designs on the nails and be removable from said nails after the design is painted.

3. A stencil for painting a human nail comprising a crescent-shaped sheet of pliable material adhesively coated so that the portion intermediate the crescent corners may be removably tacked to the nail and being shaped with crescent curves of unequal radii whereby one curve may serve tov act as a stencil for leaving unpainted the half-moon at the rear of the nail and the other curve may serve as a stencil to leave unpainted the tip portion of the nail and the corners of the crescent mav serve as tabs for easily removing the stencil sidewise from the nail.

4. The method of painting designs on human nails comprising the applying to the nail of a pressure adhering removable stencil, applying a volatile coloring fluid to the unmasked portions of the nail; and removing said stencil sidewise from the nail with a quick peeling motion while the fluid is drying.

5. A nail stencil comprising a pliable web coated on one side with pressure adhering adhesive, and being cut with curves of unequal radii so as to form a crescent of a greater width than the nail to be covered.

6. A nail stencil of a width greater than the width of the nail to be covered, and comprising a pliable form-cut sheet of material coated on one side with pressure adhering adhesive, the edge portions of the stencil overlying the nail serving as a painting guide and the portion projecting beyond the side of the nail serving as a removal tab, whereby the stencil may be removed by a quick sidewise peeling motion so as to leave intact the painted portions of the nail.

7. A. crescent-like nail stencil comprising a pressure-adhesive-coated pliable web cut with curvatures of unequal radii so as to form a crescent of a width greater than the width of a human nail, the portions of the curvatures intermediate the ends constituting painting guides, and the ends beyond the sides of the nail serving as removal tabs.

FRANK MARTIN SMALDON E. 

